We had a puppy for a few hours

My kitties sort of got their wish... We had to babysit a puppy for a few hours.  They were excited for about an hour... Then, puppy got on their nerves and they got up on higher ground so she couldn't get to them... Some cute pics...

Piper meets puppy



Piper gets a slobbery kiss from puppy... Much to her disgust! LOL!!



Phoebe says "This is not a doggie... This is rat!"



Morgan La Fay was fascinated by puppy but mostly wondered "What does it want?"



Strike one... Puppy chewed on THEIR toys!



Strike two... Puppy ate THEIR food and not it's own!



Strike three... Puppy plays cute with momma... That's it!!  Puppy has to go!! LOL!!



Needless to say, they no longer wish for a puppy of their own!  They had enough and were glad to see her go home a few hours later!! Haha!!

This is very cute.  I remember your other thread too about your kitties wanting a puppy.....very funny.  Last fall we couldn't resist trying to add a dog to the family.  We thoroughly researched the idea, read 4 dog training books (some were read twice) and found the perfect dog (sweetest lab mix ever, and unusually calm.)  Long story short, adding a dog to a three cat family was even more challenging than it seemed on paper (and it seemed challenging, even in theory.)  After one week he went back to his foster mom who loves him and will find a good home for him.  We learned we are meant to be a cat family and will not try adding a dog again.  You are wise to resist the urge...and your kitties are too.   

Cute pictures! My cat loves my dogs lol 

Actually, I was quite proud of all of them.  As annoyed as they were after the first initial excitement, they did NOT slap her or hurt her in any way.   They did not see her as a threat.  She is tiny, much smaller than they, so they wouldn't.  But, still I was very impressed, especially with Piper!  I thought for sure she would smack her into next week for that kiss!!  She didn't, though, she tolerated it and gave herself a thorough washing after puppy was gone.   It went well.  They just were like "Does it ever run out of energy?"  And of course, puppy tugging and nipping at their tails didn't help.  I am not sure they are 100% convinced it was a dog, either!!

LOL! If they really want a dog, they should meet our family's Lab. His name is Bear, and he's about 90 lbs.

Awwww what a cute puppy is so cute.Love the pics.Its always better to just babysit I think  x

Yes!  I agree!!  I love dogs and puppies, too.. But they are way too needy and crazed for me.  And for my kitties!  They also love all dogs, big and small but they've never had to deal with them for more than 30 min- and hour so they've never had time to get sick of them!!  By the time puppy left, they were so happy to see her go!  You could almost hear them say "Hallelujah!"

They were good with her though.. As annoying and a pain in the keester as she was.  They were very good with her!  I was proud of them!

My German Shepherd gets along great with my cats, but most of the cats were raised with my previous dogs so they were already comfortable with dogs. In fact I think they are maybe TOO comfortable because they have zero fear of dogs, not even strange dogs.

When my BIL brings his dog over, the cats all come up and my girl Harley will just lay down pretty much right in front of him and start rolling around on the floor.

I had a little trouble when I was trying to get a new dog, the first dog I brought home just wanted to eat the cats. I tried working with him but I couldn't get him to where we could safely have the cats nearby, so we ended up having to return him to the rescue. I ended up with Bianca, my German Shepherd who is awesome with the cats and I had no trouble introducing them at all. I just had to teach Bianca that the kitties did not want to play with her, and that she could not play along when I was waving a wand toy around for the cats (or chase the laser!) Now I can do those things and even could wave the wand toy in front of her face and she will just ignore it because she knows it's not for her.

Here's a photo of Harley lying in front of my BIL's dog (he's a guide dog):

Nekochan said:

I ended up with Bianca, my German Shepherd who is awesome with the cats and I had no trouble introducing them at all. I just had to teach Bianca that the kitties did not want to play with her, and that she could not play along when I was waving a wand toy around for the cats (or chase the laser!) Now I can do those things and even could wave the wand toy in front of her face and she will just ignore it because she knows it's not for her.

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Aren't GSDs great? You can teach them just about anything... very intuitive dogs.

Does Bianca do any work or agility training?

(I once was on a forum reading about someone whose GSD killed the person's cat But the person hadn't bothered to train the GSD, and left it alone with the cats knowing full well it was still cat aggressive. The owner also did no work or agility type training with their GSD, barely a 20 minute daily walk which if you know GSDs at all is hugely inadequate for their mental stimulation needs. Just makes me sad how people can own animals but not understand them...)

People tend to humanize their animals too much and put human thoughts and emotions to them... Not realizing they have their own language and way of dealing with things.  They get confused and cannot separate it in their minds when and animal does something.  It is sad because rather than try to understand, most "get rid" of it and consider it a problem.

Alright number one I completely agree with this last post, lots of people can't handle animals particularly dogs due to they can't respect natural behaviors that come with them.

Number two I just wanted to say that although dogs are without a doubt not for everyone I believe owning dogs and cats together can be a fun and good experience. I own two dogs and two cats currently. The youngest dog, a 4 year old Border Collie, and the youngest cat, Brom, 1 year old DMH, are playmates and friends to the best of their abilities considering how pushy the dog can be when excited. Brom even to the dog's confusion rubs up against and licks him along with the cliche running his tail underneath the dog's chin then flicking the tip of it with feline attitude. Also with most dogs and cats i believe their stereotypical attitudes balance things out. My Border Collie is very needy for affection and exercise wanting to be with me 24/7 while Brom has his own agenda that he takes very seriously most the time. However that said the dog can completely blow me off at times and Brom will be in my face to the point of being annoying. As it is Brom is laying at my feet like a dog.

Note: Border Collies as a breed are  generally not considered to be safe around cats due to natural predatory and herding behaviors. My dog and others I've met are exceptions to the rule having been raised with cats from a young age and trained to leave the cats alone on command along with having lower prey drive than others of their breed.

I've always had cats and dogs together, but until recently most of my cats didn't like the dogs. All of my dogs liked cats though. Our previous cat Sylvia didn't like other animals and she would sometimes chase my terrier mix around and swat at him. Sylvia's previous owners had her front declawed, and so when she would swat my Golden Retriever(who LOVED cats) she didn't understand the cat was mad, and would think she was being petted and wag her tail. They mostly just ignored each other though. Then after Sylvia we got Sneakers who would also swat at the dogs(and my other cats when I got them) if they came too close, but she had claws. My terrier learned to stay out of her way after he got his nose scratched. Sneakers is a grumpy cat but she is too lazy/old to try to chase anyone so the other animals learned to keep out of her way and she will ignore them. The cats I've gotten since then were all kittens so they were raised with dogs.
 

speakhandsforme said:

Aren't GSDs great? You can teach them just about anything... very intuitive dogs.
Does Bianca do any work or agility training?

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Yeah they are awesome. Bianca is my first GSD but I always wanted one. She was raised with cats, which was part of the reason I chose her, and she was perfect with them. She learns so fast it's amazing. When she was trying to play with the cats when I first got her, and when she tried to play with their toys, all I had to do was tell her to "leave it" a few times and now she won't ever try to play with the wand toy, even if it lands on her by mistake. I can leave the cat toys lying around and she won't bother them, she'll only play with her own toys.

She also learned carting in a single 20-30 minute session, she was pulling the cart without any help at the end of it. The trainer we were working with said he normally doesn't let dogs pull the cart on their own so soon, but she was doing so great that he did. We've taken an agility class once and I'm hoping to take more very soon, we took a break from that to work on her obedience and train her to do animal-assisted therapy. She's also a blood donor. We've done some other activities too, like she did a herding instinct test, and some lure coursing and we tried Canine Nosework. Her previous owner trained her in tracking and I'd also like to do that with her some more if I can ever find classes close enough to me.

That is sad about the cat and GSD. People really need to be prepare to deal with their needs before they decide to adopt them! Although I was ready for a high energy dog (I used to have a Rat Terrier mix who was basically on the go 24/7) Bianca is actually really laid back for a GSD, and even if I don't have time for a walk she is always well behaved and doesn't get hyper or destructive or anything. On the other hand she has no problem keeping up with me when I take her biking or rollerblading. We usually go for 3-4 mile walks but sometimes it's just too cold or hot for me(Chicago's crazy weather.)

Here's a photo of Bianca and one of my cats, Harlequin: